Airline deregulator Alfred Kahn dies

by Ben Dobbin - Dec. 29, 2010 12:00 AMAssociated Press

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Alfred Kahn, who presided over the historic deregulation of the airline industry during the Carter administration, paving the way for JetBlue and other low-cost carriers, died Monday. He was 93.

Kahn, an economics professor at Cornell University, died of cancer at his home in Ithaca, N.Y., the school said in a statement. University spokeswoman Claudia Wheatley confirmed his death.

A leading scholar on public-utility deregulation, Kahn led the move to deregulate U.S. airlines as chief of the now-defunct Civil Aeronautics Board in 1977-78.

The board had to give its approval before airlines could fly specific routes or change fares.

"Historically, the board has insisted on second-guessing decisions by individual carriers to offer price reductions," Kahn said in early 1978 as so-called supersaver fares swept the industry. "During the last several months, we have been abandoning the paternalistic role, leaving the introduction of discount fares increasingly to the management."

President Jimmy Carter embraced deregulation as a means of stimulating economic growth. Kahn was largely instrumental in garnering the support needed to push through the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978.